Q&A
Curtis Stone Commits to Help Farmers Affected by Australian Fires
The chef talks about the fires in his homeland and how Drought Angels is making a difference
--
Australian native Curtis Stone is devoting this year to helping farmers devastated by the bushfires and partnering with Drought Angels — a female-founded Australian nonprofit that provides resources for farmers affected by drought and natural disasters.
Andrea Strong spoke with the Los Angeles-based Michelin-starred chef, restaurateur, television star, author, and culinary entrepreneur about climate change, the importance of second chances, and how Michelin makes him work harder.
Andrea Strong: In 2016, you started #Commit2One, where you devote one year to a different organization that is important to you. You have already raised money for the National Young Farmers Coalition, Chrysalis, AdoptTogether, and Share Our Strength. What inspired you to start this work?
Curtis Stone: We were getting a lot of requests from big amazing charities and also from local schools and community-based organizations. The phone was always ringing and we were always donating, but we were not all that sure what we were achieving.
I started to wonder if we were really moving the needle. So we sat down as a group and thought about what we should do. We considered starting a foundation of our own or committing to just one charity. I decided it was beyond my skillset to start a nonprofit or foundation, and I didn’t want to marry myself to one charity because there are so many worthy causes. So we thought, what if we spend one year devoted to one cause? I find that you are always so energetic about something in the first year and that would also help keep the enthusiasm fresh and would also allow us to pivot to a different cause where needed.
